Experts Recommend 5 Low-Impact Cardio Options for Joint Health

Q: If swimming is the ultimate joint-friendly cardio, what crucial muscle-building benefit are you completely missing out on in the water?

The main thing swimming does not give you is meaningful weight-bearing, bone-loading stimulus — the kind of mechanical stress that helps build and maintain bone density and some land-based strength. Experts in the article noted that swimming does not fully replicate the muscle loading of exercise on land. In water, buoyancy supports much of your body weight, which is why swimming is so gentle on painful joints. But that same support also means your bones and muscles are not being challenged by gravity and impact in the same way they are during walking, stair climbing, strength training, or other weight-bearing activity. That matters because bones get stronger when they absorb force and when muscles pull hard against them. Research and clinical guidance on bone health consistently show that weight-bearing and resistance exercise are especially important for maintaining or improving bone density, particularly at sites such as the hips and spine. Swimming can build muscular endurance and provide full-body resistance, but it is less effective for the bone-building stimulus created by standing, lifting, climbing, or jumping on land. So if swimming is your main cardio, the missing benefit is not fitness or muscle use — it is the stronger gravity-based loading that helps preserve bone strength and build more land-specific muscle strength. That is why experts often recommend pairing swimming with dry-land resistance or weight-bearing exercise.

3 articles · Updated · GQ · Aug 15

Five expert-backed options—incline treadmill, elliptical, swimming, spin bike and air bike—can raise heart rate while reducing stress on knees, hips and other joints.
Incline walking changes ankle, knee, hip and spine mechanics and cuts downward force versus flat running, while ellipticals keep feet planted and can add upper-body work.
Swimming was cited as the lowest-impact choice, especially for injury recovery or arthritis, though experts said it offers less real-world functional training because water limits eccentric muscle work.
Spin bikes and air bikes were highlighted as joint-friendly ways to push intensity, with the spin bike suiting knee or hip issues and the air bike adding upper-body demand without repetitive pounding.